


Bloom

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Getting Together, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Monster of the Week, Mutual Pining, Nightmares, Pining, Pixies, sbmagicwrong, sterekbingo, sterekbingo2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 06:58:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14587518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: After an encounter with some troublesome pixies, Stiles and Derek start coughing up flower petals- it doesn't get better from there





	Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> I only recently found out about Hanahaki Disease (Though as someone who has largely been into anime fandoms since the dawn of time I feel like I should have heard of it sooner?) and I just haaaaaad to Sterek it, because ofcourse I did

"Freaking Cornish Pixies... why didn't we listen to Harry Potter?! CLEARLY J.K. Rowling was trying to warn us!"

Derek grumbled quietly under his breath, growling as he slashed towards another pixie- who dodged, easily, and laughed in his face

"Well considering she also portrayed werewolfism as a disease that requires werewolves to be on some kind of registry, I wouldn't necessarily consider her mythology credible,"

Stiles rolled his eyes, jumping forward and blasting a spell at the pixies coming towards him

"You take everything _so literally_ don't you?"

Derek rolled his eyes, cursing as one of the pixies darted around his side and kicked the side of his head so hard that it actually nocked him off kilter

The problem with pixies- especially _Cornish_ pixies- is that they're annoying

Sure they aren't actually harmfull the same way, say, a kanima is harmfull

They can't kill anyone and wouldn't even if they could because they would mean losing their play-things

Pixies generally veiw people the same way cats veiw people's ankles: Fun to bat around but with no intention to cause any actual damage

So wile the good people of Beacon Hills didn't have to worry about being killed by the flying little beasts, things like property damage, loss of sleep, and waking up with their heads shaved were all pretty common occurrences, and those were the _mild_ ones, the ones where pixies were still having _fun_ and not actually mad

Stiles liked to call them "The Jigglypuff of the faery world"

(Derek would never admit to _completely_ understanding and agreeing with that reference, no one had to know)

TL;DR?

Pixies were freaking irritating and it was their job to return them to the faery realm where they belonged and get them out of this stupid curse of a town

_Because **ofcourse** it was_

Lydia was shreiking somewhere in the distance, and Derek immediately knew that the pixies had gotten to her hair

(Pixies _loved_ long hair, the lighter and shinier the better)

(Kira, who was trying to "gently" electrocute the little sons of Hades, was suddenly and immediately glad that she had worn her hair _up_ that day)

"Where are they all coming from!?" Scott screamed as he batted another one off of his ear

"I think it's that big tree over there, see the hole? They're all hanging around it!" Mason added

Upon glancing up- and, in the process, yanking a pixie out of the sky and shoving it quickly in the cinch-bag he was carrying- he saw that yes, there was indeed a rather large hole in the big tree a few feet away, and there did indeed seem to be an especially large swarm of pixies around it

"Obviously there's something over there that they're trying to protect, we need to find out what it is!" Stiles shouted

Derek shifted his rattling bag of pixies over his shoulder a little better, running towards the tree and trying to clear a path for someone else, but he only got a few fee in before several pixies managed to get under his feet and trip him, causing him to grunt and struggle to avoid landing on the squirming bag of pixies he had captured

"I'll get it!" Malia shouted, though Derek tended to doubt that she actually would, considering that she barely managed a full step before a pixie fluttered closer and blew some sort of blue powder in her face, causing her to stumble backwards, looking almost... drunk... as she staggered away from the tree

_Perfect..._

"Eat flowers you mother-!"

***THWACK***

Apparently Stiles' colorfull insult was cut short when the pixies decided to use a thin branch to pull backwards and hit him with, like some kind of freaking cartoon

What was Derek even _watching_ at this point!?

He stood up shakily, brushing himself off and wrinkling his nose as he abandoned his bag of nuisances and started racing towards the tree, watching out of the corner of his eye as Stiles blasted the pixies with another spell

He was so close.... just a little further...

"DEREK! Watch out!"

He didn't even get the time to turn around before Stiles had crashed into him, a slight burning sensation pelting his side as a bright blue glow was zapped towards the two of them, Stiles seemingly taking the brunt of it

"Stiles..? Stiles!! Are you ok!?"

"I ... think so..." the witch grumbled, wincing as he rubbed his head and started to carefully push off of Derek

"I'm sore but I think I'll live..."

"That makes two of us," Derek sighed, starting to push himself up as well, turning his head in surprise when he heard someone screaming in success by the tree

"I've got it, I've got it!!"

Huh, Liam.... now that was a surprise

Unfortunately for him, the success of finding the metaphorical easter egg was short lived, as he was soon surrounded by a clouder of very angry looking pixies

".... Oh no..." he squeaked, falling to the ground upon the force of the little faeries slamming into him

Lydia heaved a sigh from where she had been standing next to him, reaching down to grab whatever he had taken and show it to the rest of the group

"Fairy Quartz, practically catnip to pixies,"

"No wonder they wanted it so badly," Scott mused, yanking a stray straggling pixie out of his hair

"Stiles, will you do the honors?"

The witch nodded slowly, taking a breath as he started to mutter a spell, his eyes glowing a faint violet, his hands shimmering with the same shade as a sparkling rift began to form in the air

The doorway to the faery realm...

Derek had always wanted to go there, but he knew it was too dangerous to step into without good reason, so he simply watched as Lydia tossed the quartz in, and the pixies, who had started to make their way towards her after realizing Liam no longer had the crystal, dashed after it

Derek stepped aside and opened up the bag of pixies he had claimed, everyone else doing the same with their own pixie-catching containers, and as soon as his bunch fluttered out they exacted revenge

Some pulled his hair, some pinched his nose, one slapped him in the face (he had felt _mosquitoes_ bite harder than that) and one decided to moon him

Had to love pixies and their extreme lack of maturity

As the last one fluttered into the rift and Stiles closed the door, all Derek could think was _'Good riddance you little mother-'_

"Derek?"

He blinked, turning to look at Stiles with surprise

"Sorry, I forgot to ask before, are you alright? That spell didn't get you too badly did it?"

"No," he said with a shake of his head

"I feel perfectly fine,"

Well, he was a little worse for wear but they all were, covered in scratches and bruises like they had been in a fight with two hundred cats, but he'd hardly complain about it

"Come on, let's go home and break into the Neosporin and band-aids," he said with a smile, patting Derek gently on the back before starting for the jeep

"And pizza!" Malia insisted

"DEFINITELY pizza," Scott sighed back, clapping Stiles on the shoulder as they started walking towards the cars

Derek swallowed, feeling an odd tingling in his throat, and cleared it quietly, following after the others

It was probably just allergies, nothing to worry about... right?

 

~+~

 

"Oh god you got cheesesticks too? You are a GOD,"

Derek rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help being secretly pleased at the praise, his lips twitching slightly towards a smile as he set the box down on the coffee table, watching as a clash of hands charged towards it like it contained the secrets of the universe

"What movie are we watching?" Liam asked as Stiles nudged his hand away to grab the bigger peice of pizza for himself

"I brought one!" Kira beamed immediately, holding up a DVD towards the group, wich only earned- mostly- a series of groans from everyone involved

"Not _Into The Woods_ AGAIN Kira, PLEASE!" Stiles cried

"But it's been so long since we've seen it...."

"If you count 'two months' as long," Malia grumbled

"Come on, we could use something fun!"

" _Into The Woods_ is _fun_?" Liam asked skeptickally

"Why don't we rent one on demand since Derek finally has cable? I think _Acrimony_ is up and that was SERIOUSLY good," Stiles suggested

"Not another thriller..." Scott sighed quietly

"I'm not sure if I'd really call it that,"

"The woman has an ax? It's a thriller,"

"It isn't an AX.. exactly..."

"I have an idea," Lydia commented

"No! No _Notebook_!" Stiles squealed

"Why don't we just vote?" Derek sighed heavily

Everyone seemed to be in agreement with that, but as Stiles opened his mouth to start it off, he was hit with a sudden, intense cough

"Are... you ok?" Derek asked slowly

"Yeah.... yeah I'm fi-" clearly, he wasn't fine, as the coughing started again, louder and harder than before

Lydia immediately moved closer, placing a hand on his back as he coughed desperately into his hand, finally stopping after atleast a quarter of a minute

"Jeez... are you gonna live?" Malia frowned, eyebrows raising when she noticed something clutched in his palm

Apparently Stiles noticed it at the same time, opening his fingers up to reveal a couple of white flower petals, as well as a few specks of blood

"Flower petals? How in the hell did you spit out _flower petals_?" Malia asked in confusion

"I... I have no idea," Stiles frowned back, staring down at the petals in his hand

He didn't remember inhaling any flower petals... and even if he had, why would they only present themselves now, a couple of hours after he was last outside?

"Could it have been some kind of spell?" Kira asked with concern

"I don't know, what kind of spell would it be? And why?"

"I.. have no idea..."

That seemed to be the consensus...

He sighed quietly, rubbing his temples

"Great... this is great,"

"I'll get you some water," Derek offered, getting up from the couch suddenly and heading into the kitchen

"Thanks..."

"So if this IS magic, is it only affecting Stiles? Or are the rest of us affected too?" Scott asked suddenly

"Why don't you cough and find out?" Stiles snorted back

"Scott DOES have a point Stiles," Lydia frowned

"And I'm not sure forced coughs will work, if we aren't showing symptoms yet then maybe the petals aren't going to... you know... come out until we do," Scott suggested

Stiles hated to admit it, but the Alpha was right

If they were infected but the petals weren't ready to come up, fake coughing wouldn't force them (probably) and then they'd just be dealing with a false negative...

"What if-"

Fortunately (or unfortunately, more like it), they didn't have to wait for an answer any longer, as a loud, raw coughing came from the kitchen

Stiles immediately peered over the back of the couch, watching Derek brace himself against the counter and cough into his hand

"Derek...?" he called worriedly, hopping off of the couch immediately and rushing towards him

He didn't get there before Derek had finished however, but once he had, he presented Stiles with a fist full of petals and specks of blood

But... these petals were different

They were pink and white, and shaped differently than Stiles' own

"What the hell....?" Stiles muttered quietly

"Well, I guess Stiles isn't the only one," Malia concluded

"And it's definitely a spell," Mason added

"So what do we do now? Just... wait until the rest of us start coughing too?" Liam asked worriedly

"Pretty much, there isn't alot we can do until then," Scott sighed

"Well, we COULD research it," Lydia frowned

"I don't have my laptop and it's late, not like we can go to the library," Stiles frowned

"I have some books here I can look at though," Derek offered, wiping his hands off in the sink and moving to turn the faucet on

"Wait!" Lydia shouted suddenly, rushing into the kitchen

"We should save those petals, just in case we need them for further study, your's too Stiles,"

Stiles rolled his eyes, leaning up against one of the kitchen stools

"Great, when I have my next coughing fit I'll make sure to save the things that are _trying to choke me_ ,"

"That's all I ask," Lydia shrugged

Stiles heaved a loud, long sigh

This was going to be a long night....

 

~+~

 

No one else coughed flowers that night, just Stiles and Derek

They both had a few more fits wile the pack was together, but not all that many

They reluctantly decided to split up at around two in the morning, with none of them having planned to sleep over at Derek's and each wanting to go home to rest

The mysterious flower coughing affliction, although definitely annoying and mildly harmfull, didn't seem like that much of an emergency that it couldn't wait over night, and after Stiles and Derek both repeatedly assured everyone of their wellness, they finally relented and went home

Stiles had lingered a little longer, but had ultimately gone home about half an hour later, feeling far more exhausted than he figured he usually would have been

He made sure that his dad was home and sleeping before heading to bed himself

His sleep was restless and fitfull, causing him to toss and turn and flop around

He woke up every hour or so coughing before passing back out

When he _did_ sleep, his head was filled with nightmares

Vivid terrors of Derek's death, of him rejecting Stiles brutally, telling Stiles he never wanted to see him again, forgetting Stiles, condemning Stiles, being _killed_ by Stiles...

It wasn't a good night

When he woke up the next morning, he looked around at the mess on the bed

Obviously the coughing had gotten alot worse over the course of the night, the bed was covered in white petals and blood, and his mouth tasted like copper

 

~+~

 

"So, you're changing your sheets too?"

Derek glanced up from the laundry basket in his arms, eyebrows raised and staying silent

"Yeah, mine were covered in petals and blood this morning so... guess neither of us are getting any better huh?"

"I guess not," Derek replied stiffly

Stiles took a deep breath, wich made his throat tingle and his chest twinge with the urge to cough again, but he tried his hardest to swallow it down

"Where's everybody else?"

"On their way, Lydia is bringing some books from the library," he explained, setting the basket aside and heading towards the living room again, nodding towards a small stack of books on the coffee table

"That's what I've picked out,"

"Cool, thanks," Stiles nodded quietly, taking his messenger bag off of his shoulder and opening it to pull his laptop out

He heard the door open a few seconds later, settling himself on the couch as Scott walked in with Kira and Malia, the former armed with a backpack and Malia with an iPad

(She must have taken Lydia's when the banshee wasn't looking, intending to return the "borrowed" item later)

"What's in the bag Scotty?"

"Some stuff from the clinic, maybe if we approach this more with medicine than magic we'll get a better idea of what's going on," Scott suggested, sitting down next to Stiles and gently taking the laptop away from him to set it down on the table

Stiles just rolled his eyes, but he couldn't fully disagree with him

Maybe he could atleast figure out where the flowers were coming from....

Scott started by looking in his mouth and feeling his throat, and Stiles felt... awkward...

His best freind, who was currently in _veterinary college_ , was giving him some sort of weird check-up and it was just so... _awkward_ that Stiles had to ease his own tension, by doing what he always did when he was tense:

Crack a joke

"You know," he started, watching Scott as he put the ear peices of his stethoscope in his ears and brought the little metal disc to Stiles' chest

"I have seriously never been more attracted to you than I am now, this caretaking thing you've got goin' on? Very handsome, incredibly arousing,"

Scott only shushed him, but it wouldn't do him alot of good in the end, as only a few seconds later Derek burst into a heavy coughing fit, making Scott jerk out of place and turn to look at him over the back of the couch as the werewolf doubled over

"Derek!?" Stiles shouted anxiously, leaping over the back of the couch as blood splattered onto the floor

This...

This was getting worse, _much_ worse

The blood until now had been mostly incidental, only taking up space in a palm, not drizzling out between his fingers and hitting the floor, and the petals...

They weren't petals anymore

They were full _blossoms_

Striped Carnation blossoms...

"Sorry I'm late," Lydia said as she entered the apartment, quickly shutting the door behind her and frowning with concern at the sight of the carnation on the floor

"A carnation...?"

She didn't get any time to explore though, given that Malia shouted in triumph barely a second later

"I found it!"

"You found what?" Stiles frowned

"What's wrong with you two! I found it! It's called Hanahaki Disease, it causes people to puke flowers!"

"It's fictional," Stiles and Kira said simultaneously (wich, for somewhat different reasons, had Scott and Derek raising their eyebrows)

"Yeah, but... so were werewolves until a few years ago, so why don't you tell us what it is?" Lydia suggested, setting a stack of books down on the coffee table

"It's this ... fictional disease that was created by fanfiction writers," Stiles began

"And one mangaka," Kira added quickly

"Basically when someone is suffering from unrequited love, flowers bloom in their lungs, they cough up petals and blossoms until they suffocate to death,"

"That's... brutal..." Scott winced

"Is there a cure?" Lydia asked quickly

"Yeah, if the victim's love is returned by the person they're in love with, or via surgery, but the surgery would remove all feelings they have of their person they're in love with, sometimes it'll remove all memories of that person too, or in some cases, the ability to love at all, it depends on the iteration," Stiles shrugged back

"And... you know all of this how?" Malia asked slowly

"I- .. I read!"

Lydia just rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest

"Well is there any chance it could be this?"

"No, it's a fictional disease, and not fictional like 'mythology' but fictional like 'made up by teenagers who like good angst', and this is a magical thing, not a biological thing," Stiles insisted

"Even if the pixies were trying to copy it, I doubt they'd know what Hanhaki is," Derek chimed in, finally having finished washing his mouth out in the sink

"Besides, the key to all of this is unrequited love and neither of you guys are experiencing that, right? So it's kind of a moo point thing," Malia pointed out

"... It's _moot_... and yeah I... I'm not experiencing anything like that," Stiles shrugged

He just hoped that the wolves would be too busy fussing to pick up on the lie

"Neither am I," Derek muttered back, sounding just as quiet and unsure as Stiles had

Huh...

"I don't get why it would only affect you guys though," Scott added suddenly

Everyone went quiet for a few moments, no one quite knowing the answer, until Derek spoke up again

"We got hit with a spell," he said suddenly, pulling everyone's attention towards him

"Right before Liam found that fairy crystal or... whatever it's called... Stiles was going to be hit with a spell so I jumped in front of him and-"

"We both got hit," Stiles finished

"Why did the pixies only aim a spell at Stiles though?" Scott frowned in confusion

"Well, have you _met_ Stiles? He could enrage a _monk_ ," Malia noted with a shrug

Stiles was honestly pretty freaking offended by that

"Hey!"

"Well she isn't wrong," Scott said quietly

"So you think Stiles did something to anger the pixies and they cursed him?" Lydia interrupted

"He _did_ tell them to eat flowers," Derek noted dryly

That was all it took for everyone to suddenly pause, realization seeming to hit them all at once

"Oh my God...." Stiles said slowly

"I told them to eat flowers and now they're making us puke up flower petals! Those little sneaky rats!!!" he shouted

"It might not even be that, what if they weren't casting their own spell?" Derek asked with a deep frown

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that pixies are actually pretty small on doing their own magic, usually they just steal magic from the people around them, _you_ said to eat flowers then blasted them with a spell, they blasted you back right after didn't they?"

"So you think it wasn't even their spell at all? That it was like.... some kind of reflection of mine or something?"

"I think that's exactly what it might be, and since you know what Hanahaki is, you may have subconsciously referenced it when you cast the spell, had the image in your head or something, then the pixies took it literally," Derek agreed

"Good, then Stiles should be able to remove it," Malia chimed

"No... it isn't that simple, the spell still belonged to the pixies by technicality, it's a reflection of Stiles', but it was still bouncing off of pixie magic, he wouldn't be able to remove it," Derek said with a sigh

"So then.... that's it? This is all my fault... that's all there is to it, isn't it? This is all my fault?"

"I didn't say that," Derek frowned

"No but that's basically what it is, if I hadn't cast that spell this wouldn't have happened, I never even intended for it to BE some kinda Hanahaki spell! It was just a repelling spell and I HAPPENED to insult them at the same time!"

"Sadly, the laws of magic don't differentiate quite like that..."

Stiles sat down slowly, looking pale and crestfallen, his eyes aimed at the floor

"So this is because of me... we might choke to death on flowers because I couldn't keep my fat mouth shut,"

"We don't know that for sure," Derek said quietly

"So what do we do now?" Kira asked worriedly

For a moment, no one spoke, before Scott finally sighed and stood up

"We'll go to the animal clinic, I can take x-rays and see if there are actually flowers in your lungs or not, if there are .. then we'll atleast have some indication of where to go with this, and if not, then we know what to rule out and can keep researching,"

Without any other ideas on the table, they reluctantly agreed and headed out of the apartment

 

~+~

 

Stiles threw up a daffodil on the way to the animal clinic

He coughed up another by the time they arrived

 

~+~

 

"From what I can see, there are definitely flowers growing in your ribcage, and considering the placement, it's almost definitely in your lungs,"

"How advanced is it?" Stiles asked worriedly

"Well... right now there are only a few blossoms and a couple of roots, but .. I don't know how advanced that is, since I don't know much it'll take to suffocate you,"

"Great..." Stiles said with a loud sigh, coughing once into his hand and glaring at the petal that came into his palm

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out, just ... try to breathe, ok? I'm gonna see if Derek's looks any different," Scott noted, giving him an anxious smile before nudging Derek towards the back room and leaving Stiles to contemplate his life choices

Ofcourse, of-freaking-COURSE he would cause _Hanahaki Disease_ to become a real thing

Because that's exactly the kind of magical screw-ups that he was prone to

And this was his life, so ofcourse

"We should see if Deaton has anything that might help us," Kira said suddenly

"Yeah, of all weeks for him to be out of town," Malia grumbled back, following Kira towards a bookshelf in the corner

"Isn't that _always_ the way it is though?" Stiles grumbled with an irritated roll of his eyes

"Stiles? Can I talk to you outside for a moment?" Lydia asked suddenly, tapping him on the shoulder

"Huh? Uh... yeah, I guess so,"

She probably wanted to wring him out for not being more aware of his magic or something, but he knew he'd pay for it later if he didn't follow her now, so out he went

"Can I ask what this is about?" he asked as she shut the door behind them

"It's about the fact that there are blood-soaked _daffodils_ all over your jeep,"

"I wouldn't say 'all over', there are only two," he grumbled back

"Missing the point Stiles,"

"Lydia... please, what-"

"Do you know what daffodils mean in flower language? _Unrequited love_ , and do you know what striped carnations mean? The short answer is _refusal_ , but the expanded meaning is _I cannot be with you, I wish I could be with you_ ,"

"What's your point?" Stiles sighed

"My point, is that I think this is Hanahaki Disease, BELIEVE me, every fiber of my logical mind is fighting against that diagnosis, but everything is adding up too well for it to be anything else,"

"What? You think Hanahaki is a real thing all of a sudden and we caught it somehow?"

"No, I think you accidentally brought it to the surface when you repelled those pixies and they inflicted it on the two of you,"

"I think I'm still missing the point here," Stiles sighed

Lydia looked frustrated

The kind of frustrated look she had when Prada had an accident inside the house

(Stiles would know, he bore witness to that look once)

"You're in love with Derek,"

"What!? That's crazy! I'm no-"

"I'm not an idiot Stiles, you're in love with Derek, you're THIS close to scribbling his name in your notebook or breaking into song about him, and you think it's unrequited,"

"I KNOW it's unrequited,"

At this point it wasn't even worth arguing about the fact that he loved Derek in the first place, Lydia already knew- obviously- so why bother?

"Really? Then who do _you_ think he has Hanahaki for?"

"I... I don't know! We don't even know that that's what's happening here! What correlation does unrequited love have with this spell!?"

Lydia had gone from looking unimpressed, to .. somewhat sympathetic and disappointed

"Stiles, you're smart, we both know by now that this is what's happening, and unless you trust Scott with a scalpel and a can of anesthesia, I suggest you confess your feelings before you _suffocate to death_ ,"

"There's another thing about Hanahaki that I haven't told you though," Stiles said quietly, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the clinic door

"If you confess your feelings and then are rejected, the flowers will grow much faster than usual, you'll be dead in twenty-four hours or less, ofcourse... once you start coughing up full blossoms your time is pretty limited anyway,"

"All the more reason for you to get it over with and work this out so you don't push your luck,"

"Hello!! Did you not just hear me about the 24-hour thing!?"

"And did _you_ not just hear _me_ about Derek returning your feelings? He loves you Stiles, but he's just as dense as you are and neither of you are brave enough or confident enough or _aware_ enough to say anything, if one of you doesn't woman-up and say something it'll kill you both- _literally_ ,"

Stiles shook his head slowly, opening the door to the clinic

"Sorry.... I just can't risk the rejection, my life kinda depends on it," he said quietly, disappearing inside

Lydia groaned, raking her nails through her hair in frustration

"I swear... one of these days I'm going to sit you down in front of _The Notebook_ and let it go to work on that thick head of your's!"

 

~+~

 

"So... what is it that you wanted to see me about Lydia?" Derek asked slowly

He had coughed up another carnation during the x-ray, prompting Scott to have to start over and taking twice as long

By the time he was released everyone was inside flipping through books and various jars of herbs and medications, all except for Lydia, who was waiting for him by the door and gesturing for him to follow her out

He wasn't sure what she wanted but he didn't like where this was going...

"You're in love with Stiles, aren't you?"

Yep, he knew he wouldn't like where this was going

"What? Lydia tha-"

"DON'T try to deny it, Stiles may misguidedly think that he can lie to me but I know you're smarter than that Derek, I know that you know the extent of my powers,"

"....As a banshee...?"

"As a woman,"

He _really_ didn't like where this was going

"I know that you love him, AND I know that he loves you, and I know how Hanahaki works, if you two idiots let this go because of your inferiority complexes and _starving_ lack of self-esteem, you're going to end up dead, and I will NOT be planning your completely avoidable funerals, wich means you'll be stuck with Scott, the guy who planned my surprise party last year _after_ he told me about it,"

"Lydia-"

"Did I say I was done? Look, you two have been pining for eachother for years, it's been cute, we've all had some laughs, but it's gotten very old and very tired and very sad to look at, now it's time to put this thing out of it's misery, before it _literally_ kills you both, I already tried to convince Stiles but he's even worse than I thought so I'm hoping you, as the older, slightly more mature one, will have some common sense and bring an end to this hell,"

"Lydia... he doesn't love me-"

"Do NOT start with that, Stiles already got blood on my shoes so I am SICK of this flower sickness! He loves you, you love him, deal with it,"

"Well when you put it that way it sounds very convincing," he said dryly

Lydia took a deep breath, her shoulders sagging, posture going soft, as she took a step closer to him

"Derek... he loves you, and I know you know that, why do you think your flower is carnations?"

... What... the hell...?

"I don't know what that means," he said slowly, face scrunched up in some mix between confusion and distaste

"Stiles is coughing up daffodils, in flower language that means _Unrequited love_ , but _you_ are coughing up striped carnations, wich mean _refusal_ or- more fittingly in this case- _I can't be with you, I wish I could be with you_ , why is your flower one of refusal and not unrequited love?"

He didn't know much of anything about flower language, but if Lydia was right- and in all honesty, Lydia was ALWAYS right- that was sort of a scary thought....

"He doesn't love me Lydia, he's _attracted_ to me, there's a big difference,"

Sure Derek had noticed it over the years, the occasional arousal and fast-beating heart, the way his pupils dilated and his blood pressure raised, but those were signs of attraction, not love, and Derek was used to people being attracted to him

It's the love that he isn't used to

"Then lie," she said quietly, bringing a look of total confusion to his face

"If you don't love him, then lie, but he's suffering from _unrequited LOVE_ Derek, not _unrequited ATTRACTION_ , tell him you love him so that, atleast, _he_ will be cured, if you love him, don't you want to save his life?"

He hated to say this- he _really_ hated to say this- but ... she was right

If Stiles knew that Derek loved him then maybe it would cure him, even if it didn't cure Derek back, and if this had nothing to do with his feelings for Derek, he could just pass it off as a lie in an attempt to help him, it'd seem like a nice gesture and no one would have to know the truth...

And if it saved Stiles' life.....

"What do I say? _Hi, I love you, let's have pizza_?"

"It's a start,"

 

~+~

 

"Derek, there you are, your x-rays are done,"

Derek completely ignored Scott as he strode into the clinic, having spent the last several minutes practicing with Lydia and knowing that if he broke stride he wouldn't gather up this much courage again and they'd both just suffocate to death

"Derek? Something wrong...?" Stiles asked slowly, clearly catching the strangeness of how he was acting

"I'm in love with you, do you want to have pizza?"

There

It was out

It happened

Now let the suffocating death of being choked by flowers begin

"Do... do you really?" Stiles asked quietly, his face pale and nervous, looking way more invested in this than Derek had thought he'd be

"I... yeah, I do,"

If he was going to die anyway, he might as well die honestly

"It isn't just you trying to save me from the weeds? .. Literally?"

"No, it isn't because of that, I'm.... telling you because of that, but I've loved you for a long time, and no magic or disease or anything like that is going to change it,"

Stiles smiled softly, stepping closer and reaching out to gently rest a hand on Derek's upper arm, giving it a tight, reassuring squeeze

"I'm in love with you too- not because of the flowers- and I would _love_ to have pizza, since we really didn't get to enjoy it last night,"

His heartbeat didn't stutter

He... he was telling the truth....

For a moment they were both quiet, before suddenly and simultaneously launching into extreme coughing fits, blood and petals flooding out of their mouths and hitting the floor, neither being able to stop it all with their hands

They could hear everyone around them panicking, asking what to do, bouncing theories off of eachother...

And then, suddenly, it stopped

The ground was cluttered with petals and blossoms, daffodils and carnations, and plenty of blood...

But they both felt better, atleast

"Are you guys ok?" Kira asked worriedly

"I... I think so..." Stiles said quietly, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and straightening up before taking a long, deep breath

"I don't have any chest pains, no throat ache or urge to cough... I think we're in the clear,"

Derek copied him, finding with releif that he had the same pleasant lack of symptoms

"Yeah... but we should give it atleast a full day before we determine that for sure, probably be best not to be alone until atleast twenty-four hours without incident have gone by,"

"Agreed," Stiles nodded

There was a beat, a pause, before Derek spoke again

"So... what now?"

"Weeeeeell, NOW, you've promised me a pizza, and now that I'm not full of weeds I'm STARVING, so I say you should pay up,"

"I have no problem with that, but..." Derek paused, glancing down at the mess of flowers and blood on the floor

"Shouldn't we-?"

"We've got this," Lydia said quickly

"I want to collect samples to study, just for future reference, and you two have been through enough, the only people in this room who haven't even been on a DATE for.... what? The last TWO YEARS?"

"Atleast," Derek muttered under his breath

"Exactly, so go, have fun, the sooner you two get comfortable dating the better it'll be on everyone,"

"If you're sure," Stiles grinned, immediately grabbing Derek's hand and tugging him towards the door

Lydia only gave a silent nod of approval before turning her attention to the floor and giving the two of them some much needed privacy

"You know, despite hating how we got here... I AM glad that we ended up like this, I don't know if we ever would have ended up together if Lydia hadn't pushed,"

"And if it hadn't been life or death," Derek pointed out

"Right, freaking Jigglypuff Pixies..."

"I'd prefer having someone draw on my face than put flowers in my lungs," Derek grumbled

He knew the moment it came out of his mouth that it was a mistake

Stiles' eyes were wide, his mouth open, a look of pure delight on his face

_Oh no..._

"You like Pokemon!? Who's your favorite? I'm an Eeveelutions man myself, I love all of 'em! But my favorite? The original Eevee, now I know what you're thinking- why the plain one right? Well there are alot of reasons and I'm only gonna list the top five,"

So that was how they spent the first half of their first date talking about Pokemon

And from that moment on, everytime they saw a pixie or a Jigglypuff, they both found themselves ... well, groaning and rolling their eyes

(And coughing a little bit)


End file.
